Films

Teen Titans Go! vs Teen Titans (2019)
[#131 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

University Challenge
2019/20 Episode 12
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Catherine the Great
Part 4 (of 4)
She may've been great, but this series wasn't. Oh well.

Films

Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2019 #24

TV

The Great Model Railway Challenge
2x01 Heat One: The Restless Earth
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

A much more straightforward update than last week! Three new titles, three new films, plus nine bonus TV episodes, across four discs. Easy peasy.

Number of titles in collection: 2,261 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,127 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,134 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 36 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 5,889 [up 4]
Number of films: 2,623 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 8,649 [up 9]
Number of short films: 674 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Catherine the Great
Part 3 (of 4)

The Graham Norton Show
26x03 (11/10/19 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Have I Got News For You
58x01 (11/10/2019 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Catherine the Great
Part 2 (of 4)

Articles

Ang Lee: A Visionary Director Comes Face-To-Face With 3D’s Dimming Prospects
by Geoff Boucher (from Deadline)

Good long-ish read on Ang Lee's new movie and how he hopes to push technological boundaries in cinema.

TV

Catherine the Great
Part 1 (of 4)
Not a promising start. It looks suitably opulent (especially in UHD), but the writing and acting (despite a starry, talented cast) are thoroughly mediocre.

University Challenge
2019/20 Episode 11
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Strictly Come Dancing
17x06 Week 3 Results (aka Movies)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

We begin with a look back at last month on 100 Films in a Year...





After which, 1 new review was published...


Colossal (2016)

you’d be forgiven for thinking this is just another indie rom-com. Anne Hathaway moves back to her Nowheresville hometown, reconnects with childhood friend Oscar (Jason Sudeikis), and romance is surely in the air. But Colossal has a couple of surprises up its sleeve. Concurrent with Gloria’s return home, a giant monster begins to rampage around Seoul, and she comes to realise these two disconnected events are, in fact, connected. Meanwhile, the relationship storyline has a few twists in store too.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

As intimated last week, there's a whole pile of additions this time. Most of which arrived right at the end of the week, and several required some real working out about what they upgraded or didn't from my existing collection -- hence why this post is on Sunday (not that there's anyone to notice).

So, those additions include:
- the Spider-Man: Legacy 4K box set, containing Spider-Man 1-3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 1&2, which replaces a variety of editions I own on DVD and Blu-ray, but not all my existing copies(!) I may let go of some more in future, if I find this new set duplicates the old one's contents after all.
- the latest release in Doctor Who: The Collection, which as it's Season 23, aka Trial of a Time Lord, is just a one-for-one DVD-to-BD upgrade
- Arrow's Oldboy / the Vengeance Trilogy on Blu-ray, which replaces my standalone Oldboy Special Edition DVD but not my Vengeance Trilogy box set (only because that's a nice box with some swag in it)
- Criterion's release of The Magnificent Ambersons, which replaces a DVD I had bundled with the US BD of Citizen Kane
- and two other titles, with four films between them.

Whew!

And yet, as you'll see, the net number of new titles is... zero. Eesh.

Number of titles in collection: 2,258 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,127 [down 3]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,131 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 35 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 5,885 [up 14]
Number of films: 2,620 [up 8]
Number of TV episodes: 8,640 [no change]
Number of short films: 674 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

QI
17x05 Questions & Qualifications
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Strictly Come Dancing
17x05 Week 3 (aka Movies)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Joker May Represent The Post-Avengers Future For Comic Book Superhero Movies
by Scott Mendelson (from Forbes)

Excellent broad-sweep analysis of recent superhero era(s) and what the immediate future may hold for mainstream cinema as a whole -- i.e. "everything's a superhero movie".

Films

An array of shorts...

Allan + Waspy (2019)
[#130e in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Cumulus (2018)
[#130b in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Fifteen (2018)
[#130a in 100 Films in a Year 2019]
aka Quince

Pleased to Eat You! (2019)
[#130c in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Special Delivery (2018)
[#130d in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

QI
17x04 Queasy Quacks
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

University Challenge
2019/20 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco
1x03 Charlotte's Web
1x04 Madhouse

Films

Howards End (1992)
[#130 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco
1x01 Presidio
1x02 Wake
American-produced sequel/spin-off from The Bletchley Circle. And it certainly feels like cheap US TV rather than a properly British show, unfortunately.

Films

Agatha and the Truth of Murder (2018)
[#129 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Ah, a lull -- there's absolutely nothing to report this week. Next week will, I think, be a different story.

Number of titles in collection: 2,258 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,130 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,128 [no change]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 34 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,871 [no change]
Number of films: 2,612 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 8,640 [no change]
Number of short films: 674 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Lewis
7x05 Intelligent Design Part 1
7x06 Intelligent Design Part 2 [season finale]
[Watch both parts (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Chapter 30

TV

University Challenge
2019/20 Episode 10
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Hannibal (2001)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2019 #23

this week on 100 Films

3 new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...


Battle at Big Rock (2019)

Set one year on from the cliffhanger-ish ending to the last film, this short presents a vignette in the Jurassic world that will help bridge the gap between the previous feature and 2021’s third/sixth instalment. But aside from that large franchise-minded goal, it’s also a chance to see some different characters have a different kind of encounter within the films’ universe.

Read more here.


Downton Abbey (2019)

As the 2020s loom, with the world in a scary old place for a whole host of reasons, why not retreat to the safety of the 1920s, when posh toffs ran the country because their birthright had put them there rather than because the hoi polloi had actually chosen to vote for them in some act of retrograde nationalism. Downton Abbey does actually feature a subplot where a group of working-class servants secretly plot to overthrow the system… but the system in question is the one about who gets to serve the King and Queen their dinner. The working classes fighting amongst themselves about something fundamentally unimportant while the upper classes carry on serenely above them? It’s almost allegorical, although I suspect not on purpose.

Read more here.


John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)

The action-man with the second most quotable line about being back is, er, back — again — for the third chapter in the ongoing saga of what happens if you kill a man’s dog. Basically, lots of people die. Quite right too.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Chapters 26-29

End of Book Two.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

After last week's biggie, it's a comparatively quiet one for the collection this week, with just one new addition -- and that doesn't even change the number of discs, because I found a discrepancy somewhere else in the count.

But it's also time for the monthly running time update, so there's that excitement!

Number of titles in collection: 2,258 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,130 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,128 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 34 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,871 [no change]
Number of films: 2,612 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 8,640 [no change]
Number of short films: 674 [no change]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
429 days, 23 hours, and 10 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 1 hour, and 42 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

QI
17x01 Quirky
17x02 Quintessential
17x03 Quarrels
[Watch these episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Downton Abbey (2019)
[#128 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Chapter 25

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Chapter 24

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Chapter 23

TV

University Challenge
2019/20 Episode 8
2019/20 Episode 9
[Watch episodes eight and nine (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Battle at Big Rock (2019)
[#127a in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Short film set between Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World 3. Watch it on YouTube here, and read my review here.

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Chapter 22

Films

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
[3rd watch]
Rewatchathon 2019 #22

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Chapters 20-21

this week on 100 Films

Just 1 new review was published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and it was...


The Predator (2018)

it was quite a poor film… but I also sort of enjoyed it. Not in a Gods of Egypt way (that was kinda “so bad it’s good”; or maybe “so strange it’s good”), nor in a “I can see what they were going for, they just couldn’t quite get there” way, but in a… well, there’s the rub. The film undoubtedly has its problems, but it also has bits I was okay with; liked, even. What it feels like is a decent, middle-of-the-road-ish sci-fi actioner… that they then, for some unfathomable reason, deliberately dicked around with to make it kinda bad.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Stranger Things 3
3x05 Chapter Five: The Flayed
3x06 Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)
[#127 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Chapter 19

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week. And this week, almost out of the blue (or, should I say, Blu), there's a mass of additions!

Four are sale/offer titles, two new releases that aren't out officially until next week. One upgrades a Blu-ray from 2D to 3D, so only adds a single disc to the totals. Another upgrades a Blu-ray from 2D to 3D, but I'm keeping the old one for a special features disc, so it effectively doubles that film's numbers. Another upgrades a Blu-ray from HD to UHD, adding a new cut of the film and a whole raft of extra discs in the process, more than doubling that film's presence in this numbers.

Not that any of that actually matters. I mean, Apocalypse Now going from making up 0.085% of my discs to 0.187% doesn't really make much difference, does it?

Number of titles in collection: 2,257 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,130 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,127 [up 5]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 34 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 5,871 [up 15]
Number of films: 2,611 [up 7]
Number of TV episodes: 8,640 [up 3]
Number of short films: 674 [up 1]

Finally, one of the other new acquisitions is the miniseries Shogun, which is noteworthy because it presented something of a dilemma for my episode count. It was originally screened over five nights in the US, but I believe has been shown in as many as ten episodes elsewhere (it's long enough for ten one-hours). However, on home media it's always edited into one long feature spread across multiple discs. On DVD, that made it into four parts; on Blu-ray, it's in three; and either way you could argue it's just one long film, with one set of opening titles and closing credits. So, how to count it? In the end, I've gone with three episodes. I can't imagine I'll watch it in three three-hour chunks (well, I might), but that's how it's presented (thanks to the disc breaks), so...

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Stranger Things 3
3x04 Chapter Four: The Sauna Test
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Chapters 16-18

TV

Stranger Things 3
3x03 Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Chapter 15

TV

Stranger Things 3
3x02 Chapter Two: The Mall Rats
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Dollman (1991)
[#126 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Chapters 13-14

TV

Stranger Things 3
3x01 Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy?
Finally getting round to this! Thought it was a really good opener -- reminded me why the show's so enjoyable. Well, one of the reasons: in this case, the characters, which is good because the episode spends quite a lot of time hanging around with them.
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Films

Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler. Zweiter Teil: Inferno. Ein Spiel von Menschen unserer Zeit. (1922)
[#125 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

aka Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler. Part Two: Inferno. A Game of People of Our Time.

Blindspot 2019 #9b

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Chapters 10-12

Films

Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler. Erster Teil: Der groBe Spieler. Ein Bild der Zeit. (1922)
[#124 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

aka Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler. Part One: The Great Gambler. An Image of the Time.

Blindspot 2019 #9a

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Chapters 8-9

End of Book One. Not really sure why, but maybe the structural reason will become clearer as I read on. It's undoubtedly a long, complicated book (I'm on page 187, just 15% of the way through, and there are already dozens of characters, but there are major ones we've not yet met), but it's a good read.

Films

The Red Shoes (1948)
[#123 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]
What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...? 2019 #8

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Chapters 3-7

TV

BBC Two's night of programmes to mark the 50th anniversary of Monty Python, with one new archive-trawl clip show and two repeats...

Monty Python: Almost the Truth - The BBC Lawyer's Cut
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Monty Python's Flying Circus
1x01 Whither Canada?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Python at 50: Silly Talks and Holy Grails
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Fiction

Shōgun by James Clavell
Prologue
Chapters 1-2

A more successful "let's try this" than the last one (coincidentally, both begin with an adventure at sea; this one's more entertaining, despite the other author's acclaim for exactly that). Shogun is a damn long book, though (the edition I'm reading is 1,210 pages of fairly small text), and I don't have a good track record with those, so we'll see...

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

This week, I upgraded my DVD of In Bruges to the recent limited edition Blu-ray release, plus added a selection of Indicator series titles from their sale. There were even more I wanted, but one has to find limits somewhere... especially as Arrow and Eureka recently announced their November slates and, coupled with their October ones and what Criterion are also putting out, it's going to be a very busy (i.e. expensive) run up to Christmas.

Number of titles in collection: 2,252 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,130 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,122 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 32 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,856 [up 3]
Number of films: 2,604 [up 5]
Number of TV episodes: 8,637 [no change]
Number of short films: 673 [up 2]

See you next week, faithful reader.

this week on 100 Films

A new month begins today, so it's time once again to look back at the old one on 100 Films in a Year...





Plus, there were 3 new reviews this week...


Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

feels like an imitation of latter-day Tarantino flicks. At least writer-director Drew Goddard has the good sense to dodge the carbon-copy style of Reservoir Dogs mimics by shifting genre, taking some of what QT brought to war movies in Inglourious Basterds and Westerns in The Hateful Eight and applying it to a neo-noir mystery-thriller. He even preempts Tarantino’s own oeuvre by including a Charles Manson-esque cult leader, thereby prefiguring Manson’s role in QT’s own Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Read more here.


Sholay (1975)

There’s every chance you’ll’ve only heard of Sholay (if you’ve heard of it at all) as “one of those Indian films that’s on the IMDb Top 250 nowadays”. But in Indian culture it’s a much bigger deal, a huge and longstanding success; like Star Wars or something is to us, I guess, only without the reams of sequels and spinoffs and merchandise and theme parks. Instead, it’s enjoyed remarkable success of its own: it topped the Indian box office for 19 years, was the first film in India to celebrate a Silver Jubilee at over 100 cinemas, and eventually set a record of 60 Golden Jubilees across India. From a British perspective, in 2002 it topped the BFI’s “top ten Indian films of all time” poll, and in 2004 it was voted the “Greatest Indian Movie” in a Sky poll of 1 million British Indians. I first heard about it years ago in that context, and my desire to see it was only exacerbated when it made it onto IMDb’s list. All of which is why I chose it to be my second-ever #200.

Read more here.


Their Finest (2016)

much of Their Finest follows the expected shape of a story like this (the love triangle; the woman coming to be respected by her initially dubious colleagues; etc). Two things work to stop it feeling too staid: an engaging lead cast, and some weightier developments and subplots. The latter includes at least one wholly unexpected twist, which helps make this a more powerful film than the potentially-light “people go on a jolly to make a movie during the war” premise initially seems. There’s a somewhat classical balance of comedy and tragedy there, which is reminiscent of movies from the era the film’s set.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Two last-minute arrivals led to this update being slightly later than normal: Avengers: Endgame on 3D Blu-ray (out on Monday, but it turned up early), and a Blu-ray box set of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films from Italy, which I've had my eye on for ages and finally dropped in price to a steal. Which means a lot of additions to the films total this week.

Number of titles in collection: 2,249 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,131 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,118 [up 2]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 32 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,853 [up 10]
Number of films: 2,599 [up 15]
Number of TV episodes: 8,637 [no change]
Number of short films: 671 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Les diaboliques (1955)
[#122 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]
Blindspot 2019 #8

Films

Rififi (1955)
[#121 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]
Blindspot 2019 #7

TV

Dad's Army: The Lost Episodes
1x03 Under Fire [series finale]

Edinburgh Nights
2019 Episode 2 (of 3)
2019 Episode 3 (of 3)
[Watch episodes two and three (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Dad's Army: The Lost Episodes
1x01 The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker
1x02 A Stripe for Frazer

Live at the Apollo
Pride Part 2 (of 2)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
[#120 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

Peaky Blinders
4x06 The Company [season finale]
[Watch seasons 1-4 (again) on iPlayer or Netflix.]

Films

Viceroy's House (2017)
[#119 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

this week on 100 Films

My TV column at 100 Films in a Year used to be pretty consistent, but I've kind of given up on that and just post it whenever now -- and, this month, that "whenever" was today...





Also this week, 5 new film reviews...


Aquaman (2018)

the plotting is mostly sub-Game of Thrones fantasy gobbledegook, attached to an Indiana Jones-inspired quest plot that sends this sea-based superhero to the Saharan desert. That’s just one reason the film stretches out to a mind-boggling 143 minutes (aka almost two-and-a-half hours). It does feel like several movies stitched together; like someone couldn’t quite decide whether they wanted to do “medieval fantasy but under the sea” or “a globetrotting Indiana Jones adventure”, so just did both at the same time.

Read more here.


Rampage (2018)

I don’t really care about all the video game-y stuff. I’m here because it’s a The Rock movie, and I tend to find his stuff pretty entertaining nowadays (as do many others — I bet he’s a bigger part of that $428 million than “based on a video game” is), and it’s about an ape, a wolf, and a crocodile who get mutated into giants and set about destroying Chicago. I mean, who doesn’t want to see that? (Yes, I know: well-adjusted adults who actually grew up.)

Read more here.


Free Love Freeway: A Final Roundup from Quentin Tarantino’s Sixties Movie Marathon

Featuring:
- Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
- Cactus Flower
- Easy Rider

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Edinburgh Nights
2019 Episode 1 (of 3)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Historical Roasts
1x03 Anne Frank
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Peaky Blinders
4x05 The Duel
[Watch seasons 1-4 (again) on iPlayer or Netflix.]

Pointless Celebrities
11x22 Special 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Susan Calman's Fringe Benefits
1x03 Episode 3 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

No new additions this week. I thought the UHD of Apocalypse Now: Final Cut might've turned up early, but they went and pushed the UK release date back a couple of weeks. Still, it's time for the monthly running time update, which at least has the last few weeks' purchases to tot up.

Number of titles in collection: 2,247 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,131 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,116 [no change]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 32 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,843 [no change]
Number of films: 2,584 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 8,637 [no change]
Number of short films: 671 [no change]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
427 days, 21 hours, and 28 minutes.
(Up 21 hours and 18 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Susan Calman's Fringe Benefits
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Peaky Blinders
4x04 Dangerous
[Watch seasons 1-4 (again) on iPlayer or Netflix.]

University Challenge
2019/20 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Peaky Blinders
4x03 Blackbird
[Watch seasons 1-4 (again) on iPlayer or Netflix.]

Susan Calman's Fringe Benefits
1x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Peaky Blinders
4x02 Heathens
[Watch seasons 1-4 (again) on iPlayer or Netflix.]

Years and Years
Part 6 (of 6)
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Peaky Blinders
4x01 The Noose
[Watch seasons 1-4 (again) on iPlayer or Netflix.]

Years and Years
Part 5 (of 6)
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Years and Years
Part 4 (of 6)
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Zatoichi at Large (1972)
[#118 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

this week on 100 Films

A series of roundups brought 10 new reviews to 100 Films in a Year this week...


2-Star Review Roundup

Featuring:
- Phantasm
- National Lampoon's Vacation
- Step Brothers

Read more here.


Quentin Tarantino's Swinging Sixties Movie Marathon Review Roundup

Featuring:
- Model Shop
- Getting Straight

Read more here.


Quentin Tarantino's Swinging Sixties Movie Marathon Roundup: Spy-Fi

Featuring:
- Hammerhead
- The Wrecking Crew
- Battle of the Coral Sea

Read more here.


Quentin Tarantino's Swinging Sixties Movie Marathon Roundup: Westerns

Featuring:
- Arizona Raiders
- Gunman's Walk

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Mrs Brown's Boys
1x02 Mammy's Secret
1x03 Mammy's Merchandise

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

There was going to be one small addition this week, but then Indicator's Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg box set turned up (along with another title I'd ordered at the same time), almost two weeks before its release date (it's not due 'til the 26th). That's the advantage of pre-ordering direct from the label!

Number of titles in collection: 2,247 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,131 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,116 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 32 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,843 [up 9]
Number of films: 2,584 [up 8]
Number of TV episodes: 8,637 [no change]
Number of short films: 671 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Battle of the Coral Sea (1959)
[#116 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
[#117 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

The last two films in Tarantino's Sixties film season. For some reason Battle of the Coral Sea wasn't shown as part of Sony Movie Channel's initial airing last week, but when movies4men repeated the series this week it was included. (It's a solid war movie, but no huge loss to those who missed it.)

TV

Years and Years
Part 2 (of 6)
Part 3 (of 6)
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Wrecking Crew (1968)
[#115 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

The 8th film I've watched from Tarantino's Sixties marathon, and one of the worst, sadly.

Films

Cactus Flower (1969)
[#113 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Easy Rider (1969)
[#114 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Two more instalments in Tarantino's Sixties marathon. Cactus Flower is definitely one of the better ones so far.

TV

Agatha Raisin
2x03 The Curious Curate [season finale]

Years and Years
Part 1 (of 6)
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Hammerhead (1968)
[#112 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Back into Tarantino's Sixties marathon with this mediocre Bond knockoff.

TV

Lucifer
3x03 Mr. and Mrs. Mazikeen Smith
[Watch season 3 (again) on Prime Video.]

Films

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
[#111 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

TV

Grantchester
4x06 Episode 6 [season finale]

Lucifer
3x01 They're Back, Aren't They?
3x02 The One with the Baby Carrot
[Watch season 3 (again) on Prime Video.]

Who Dares Wins
11x09 (14/7/18 edition)

Films

Road to Zanzibar (1941)
[#110 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

this week on 100 Films

2 new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...


Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman (1971)

The tragedy extends as far as the ending, which is both frustrating and poignant. “If we’d understood each other’s words, we wouldn’t have had to fight,” says each of the men… except, er, they did have a way to understand each other, thanks to the bilingual boy. Have a sword fight first, ask questions later, I guess. But anyway, it’s frustrating because they didn’t need to fight (they were both good guys!), but it’s poignant because their basic natures, compounded by misunderstandings, meant they did fight — and because they fought, one of them had to die. It’s a damn good fight, mind

Read more here.


Live by Night (2016)

Affleck is a decent director, and, actually, a quite like him as an actor too… in the right kind of roles. I’m not sure he’s got the range necessary for this part, however. His character is a conflicted, contradictory man — he genuinely has a good heart, but he’s often prepared to put it aside to do bad things; but, at other times, that moral compass gets the better of him. It’s a tricky line to tread and make believable, and Affleck’s performance is too monotone to convincingly portray it.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Unforgotten
3x01 Episode 1
3x02 Episode 2
3x03 Episode 3
3x04 Episode 4
3x05 Episode 5
3x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
Didn't realise it'd been a whole year since this was on! Time flies. Still a great show.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Three new additions, thanks to a sale. I really am trying to cut back, honest.

Number of titles in collection: 2,244 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,131 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,113 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 32 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,834 [up 5]
Number of films: 2,576 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 8,637 [no change]
Number of short films: 671 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Grantchester
4x05 Episode 5

Films

Gunman's Walk (1958)
[#109 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Fourth film in the UK broadcast of Tarantino's Sixties marathon, and my favourite so far. (I'm going away for a few days, so this will likely be the last of these I watch 'til next week.)

TV

Agatha Raisin
2x02 The Fairies of Fryfam

Films

Arizona Raiders (1965)
[#108 in 100 Films in a Year 2019]

Third film in the UK broadcast of Tarantino's Sixties marathon.